[meteorite-list] Stop Naysaying! (Was: Try divining rods over a large iron)

[Chris Peterson]

Actually, new ideas that are RIGHT have generally been accepted fairly 
quickly. It is a myth of the pseudoscientist that so many great minds have 
been considered wrong or crazy, and that the establishment has usually been 
wrong. It is entirely appropriate that new ideas be viewed with some 
skepticism before they are accepted, however.

In fact, it is science that tells us very clearly that divining rods do not 
work. This is something that has been put to the test, and failed that test. 
Nobody can actually demonstrate that they work any better than random 
chance. Only a fool would ignore that reality in favor of quotes (some of 
dubious origin).

Divining rods, homeopathy, astrology... all these things are firmly in the 
same category.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Meteorites USA" <eric at meteoritesusa.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 1:32 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Stop Naysaying! (Was: Try divining rods over a 
large iron)


Chris, I fully support the eviction of superstition from the human mind.
BUT... Non believers and naysayers of radical ideas are typically,
historically, and statistically, often wrong!

People said the Wright brothers couldn't fly. But they did.
People said you would die if you went faster than a few tens of MPH.
They were wrong.
People disbelieved DaVinci's inventions. But modern science proved many
to be possible.
People said it wasn't possible to fly to the Moon. Be we did.
People slammed Tesla, and persecuted him and his free wireless
electricity. Yet today we know induction charging and energy
transmission over distance is real.

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." -
Thomas Edison

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're
right." - Henry Ford

"Don't take counsel of your fears or naysayers." - General Colin Powell

"...The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not
expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is
like that of the planter — for the future. His duty is to lay the
foundation for those who are to come, and point the way. He lives and
labors and hopes...." Nikola Tesla

Thomas Jefferson, with such a great mind on politics and human
advancement still had problems and could be considered a naysayer when
he said.

"I would more easily believe that a Yankee professor would lie than that
stones would fall from heaven." - Thomas Jefferson

Closedmindedness is the enemy of progress.

Regards,
Eric